I have been using PMS for quite with my PS3 and, because it's made to work so well with that particular system , it's been simple to use from the start.

I have just recently added a Sony BDP-S390 to my network, and am now trying to get the software to play nice with this player. The default configuration file that comes with the install (SonyBluRay.conf) does not allow native playback of mkv files. I found another post in this forum from the user Axess_Denied with this exact model. He claimed to have a complete working .conf file for this player and was nice enough to share it.

While his conf file certainly allowed me to play mkv files and MP4 files with no encoding, Istill had to tweak it slightly. Unfortunately, there are still a couple things that I have not solved.

One being playback of divx avi files. I know this player doesn't support them, so I have to use transcoding to view them. While MEncoder and FFmpeg are able to create a compatible stream to the player, the file jumps forward several minutes at around 40 seconds into playback, and then continues to playback smoothly. This annoying jumping continues as the playback goes on, at around the same repeating interval. This behavior happens with both Mencoder and FFmpeg. Tsmuxer and Avi Synth are not able to transcode Divx for me (at least with the settings I currently have). TsMuxer gives me "file unsupported" error and AviSynth locks the player up.

The other problem I cannot solve is that whenever I transcode with Mencoder, the video playsback too fast and the audio is badly delayed by severeal seconds. Playback is smooth though.This is a real problem when I am trying to watch DVD iso files, as Mencoder is the only choice I am given on the player when accessing isos. I tried playing with a couple settings in the gui (AV sync alternative method, and force framerate parsed from FFmpeg) but still the same problem.

Here are the settings in the SonyBluRay.conf file that are *mostly* working for me at this point.

If I understood what all of these things meant I might have a better chance at finding a solution. Is there a FAQ that breaks this part down for new users who want to learn? Specifically I want to know how the settings here relate to the different encoding engines, and how they affect the choices that appear for transcoding on the rendering device.....

Finally, if I am able to get everything working perfectly, wouldn't it be a good idea for your users to be able to upload and share their fully working configuration files? I imagine it would save people a lot of time in getting PMS to work properly with their specific devices.

vicviper wrote:Is there a FAQ that breaks this part down for new users who want to learn? Specifically I want to know how the settings here relate to the different encoding engines, and how they affect the choices that appear for transcoding on the rendering device.....

There is a list of supported formats and what the flags mean. How the "supported" lines work is documented in PS3.conf.I have not yet seen a FAQ that explains it in more detail.

vicviper wrote:One being playback of divx avi files. I know this player doesn't support them, so I have to use transcoding to view them. While MEncoder and FFmpeg are able to create a compatible stream to the player, the file jumps forward several minutes at around 40 seconds into playback, and then continues to playback smoothly. This annoying jumping continues as the playback goes on, at around the same repeating interval.

I don't think this is something really tied to using a specific Sony bluray player or even divx files, I seem to remember reading a thread about this happening with MKV's too. Have you tried lowering the transcode buffer size? I had skipping issues until I reduced it to 400 MB.

vicviper wrote:Here are the settings in the SonyBluRay.conf file that are *mostly* working for me at this point.

As you just said, Divx video is not a supported format, so there's no reason to have a line that starts f:divx in your list. The list is for stuff that is supported. If your file is named .divx and does not contain divx video then it's just named wrong.

I don't think Axxess_Denied is using a U.S. model BDP-S390 btw, and models for different countries have slightly different file format support. Divx is actually supported in non-U.S. models. But keep in mind that divx/xvid/avi are used interchangeably by some people who aren't being technical. So sometimes XviD codec video is referred to as "DivX" even though the two are not quite the same. Both are forms of MPEG4-ASP, and AVI is nothing more than a container format. It is generally expected an AVI will contain XviD video, but many times they have DivX instead.

vicviper wrote:If I understood what all of these things meant I might have a better chance at finding a solution. Is there a FAQ that breaks this part down for new users who want to learn? Specifically I want to know how the settings here relate to the different encoding engines, and how they affect the choices that appear for transcoding on the rendering device.....

The first column is container formats, the second is video codecs that may be inside that container format, third group is audio codec used with that container format. Last column is how the rendering device (the blu-ray) play should interpret the media type is how I understand it.The list is what the playback device supposedly can actually play back.If the file you're trying to stream matches one of the above setups, the file is sent to the device where it is played as it is.If the file in it's entirety is not supported the video is transcoded to MPEG2 and the audio is transcoded as AC3 and it gets sent in a MPEGTS stream.

What engine gets used is done by priority listing in PMS's settings (the list on he left on the Transcode Settings" tab).

SeaFox wrote:The first column is container formats, the second is video codecs that may be inside that container format, third group is audio codec used with that container format. Last column is how the rendering device (the blu-ray) play should interpret the media type is how I understand it.The list is what the playback device supposedly can actually play back.If the file you're trying to stream matches one of the above setups, the file is sent to the device where it is played as it is.If the file in it's entirety is not supported the video is transcoded to MPEG2 and the audio is transcoded as AC3 and it gets sent in a MPEGTS stream.

What engine gets used is done by priority listing in PMS's settings (the list on he left on the Transcode Settings" tab).

Correct.

In short: the "Supported" lines tell PMS which files your player supports, because then PMS should stream the file as is.If, however, your player does not support a particular file, PMS will have to transcode it to a format that your player does support first.

# Specs below taken from http://www.sony.co.uk/product/blu-ray-disc-player/bdp-s370#pageType=TechnicalSpecs# then fine-tuned by lengthy trial and error since so much of that advertised spec is inaccurate.# US models don't support video/divx mime type but European and Canadian models do.# Subtitles in mkv files are only displayed if mime type is video/divx.# Vob subtitles are not supported.# See also http://forum.serviio.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2004 for more DLNA-related info on these players.